Recently, in systems that include a user device that a user uses and a control apparatus that controls the user device, if a failure occurs in the user device, the control apparatus specifies the failed component and a worker who refers to information on the failed component replaces the failed component with a new component (see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-246468 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-259339). When the worker replaces the failed component of the user device, information on the replaced failed component of the user device is updated with information on the component with which the failed component has been replaced.
However, in the above-described conventional technology, when a component of the user device is replaced, information on that component is updated with information on a component that is used for replacement. This leads to a problem in that information on the replaced component (failed component) does not remain. Thus, it is very difficult to search for information about the replaced component again if the information on the replaced component is not accurate due to a failure in information management. Thus, information unique to the failed component may be lost.